1. Prior-Art Considerations
To efficiently accomplish various functions, it has been proposed to interface persons at telephone calling terminals directly with a computer facility. In accordance with such arrangements, computer-generated voice messages prompt callers to provide digital data by actuating the numeric buttons that are conventionally employed for dialing from one telephone terminal to another. Such techniques have been widely used; however, a need exists for expanded operating capabilities, as to accommodate various game formats.
2. Invention Summary
general, the present invention comprises a telephonic-interface system and related processes for selectively utilizing both analog (voice) and digital telephonic communication in a variety of different game formats or programs, as to accommodate a vast number of participants. For example, after approval of a caller (based on telephone number signals) calls are accepted, designations are provided and a voice generator prompts individual callers to provide digital data for a game record. An information acquisition phase may be concurrent or consecutive with respect to an information processing phase. In accordance with various game formats, acquired data is processed to accomplish the functional operations, as for a contest, a lottery, and so on.
In specific implementations or formats, the system may use various criteria as a basis for awarding credits or points to callers, e.g. interrelated processing or processing with external data, source or random. Formats may make awards for proper responses, as question answers. Also, time may be introduced as a factor in relation to awards. Questions to callers may be variously selected, as from memory banks classified with varying orders of difficulty. Also, progressive stages of play may be invoked in a format to selectively access certain awards during a single call or a series of calls to isolate subsets and sub-subsets of callers. In that regard, award points may be tallied and accessible in a cache memory for prompt accounting reports. Thus, point accounts may be reported, individually or relatively.